Power Fluctuations

[impalator]

Good morning,

From time to time I can't help but think that my van performs quite differently, depending on the time of day or mood.... (can a van have a mood? - I guess a Delica can...)...

In any case, yesterday I drove the exact same route under the exact* same conditions and the Van performed quite differently.... noticed these "power fluctuations" before too - but since I had the direct comparison from the previous day and actually glanced at the RPM's and the Speed (and made a mental note of the pedal-pressure) I can now say the following:

Going up Keith Road from Brooksbank towards Lonsdale in North Van, on Saturday, I was cruising at around 55+km/h - had it kick down to 2nd to pick-up speed - but it managed to not only maintain speed, but to actually (albeit very gradually) increase speed.

On Sunday, doing the exact same thing, I hardly managed to keep it at 50km/h... It wouldn't pull any faster and actually appeared to slow down...

The engine temp was the same (normal operating temp - what you would have after about 15 or so minutes of normal driving), outside temperatures were within a few degrees (weather has been fairly constant over the weekend), fuel is the same (driving on the same, half full tank of Diesel)...

*Oh, I guess there was a difference: I had my 17 month old son on board on Sunday - and he weighs in at a hefty 24 pounds... can't really think that this would make such a dramatic difference (even for a weak-hearted Delica...)

Do other Delica L300 drivers also experience such fluctuations?

Cheers,
Chris

[Aztec Nomad]

Hey,
Have you driven since? Did it clear up again? If so then I'm not to sure what could be going on. If not, then I would recommend checking everything that has do with your fuel system.
Adam

[norisan]

I had a similar experience - the fluctuations were quite subtle at first then developed into a permanent loss of power accompanied by a fair amount of smoke when pulling away from a standstill, (it had never smoked before). I suspected the EGR valve - removed it and found it to be clean apart from a dusting of carbon, and operating fine when I applied a vacuum to it. I then checked the vacuum solenoid that controls the egr, and found that it had battery voltage to the terminals regardless of the throttle position, presumably holding the egr open all the time? I re-installed the valve disconnected the plug, and plugged the vacuum line. End result - more power, no smoke, slightly lower egt temps and the oil seems to be staying cleaner, but that could be my imagination. The Deli always ran well with no smoke and excellent gas mileage and I was never a believer in disconnecting original parts preferring to fix them, but it now runs so much better, I'm going to leave well alone. On an unrelated topic, (or maybe not?), the Deli sat outside last night when the temp hit minus 32 ; 400 watt block heater and 250 watt stick on oil pan heater - fired up almost instantly and ran smoothly after coughing a few times, but I think the Delis would benefit from a transmission oil pan heater in these kinds of temps.

[EnviroImports.com]

have you changed your fuel filter lately? sounds like your engine is having to work harder to pull the fuel... cheap and easy place to start, and should be changed a couple times a year, you also might have water in your fuel filter, that drain on the bottom of it is to let water out. your engine only uses a small portion of the fuel that comes to it, the rest gets sent back to your fuel tank/s Heated up..... so after about 20-30 min you have warm fuel in your tank, drive where you need to go, turn off your van and now you have a tank full of hot/warm fuel. if your tank is not 100% full, and whos is ? you will get Condinsation..... aka water in your fuel, that gets mixed into the system and hopefully caught by your fuel filter water seperator. so check to see if you have water in your water trap in the bottom of your fuel filter, and if its been a while. change your fuel filter.
Hope that helps
Noel

[patty]

i have the exact same experience often. on my 9 hour drive home from prince george there are several distinct feelings in the deli, very much irritating.